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UK Digital Forensic Job Interview Questions

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(@forensicitderby)
Posts: 18
Active Member
Topic starter
 

Hi,

I have recently tried to gain a job in digital forensics with law enforcement in the United Kingdom.

There were two questions at the interview that I were unsure how to answer.

The job was for a Digital Forensic Technician.

1) You plug in an exhibit hard drive, and you find that the hard drive has failed - what should you do?

A) Inform senior manager, make a note in the audit trail of the failed hard drive. Would Seek advice from someone more senior, because attempting to fix the hard drive myself could result in the data being compromised or contaminated and jeopardise the investigation.

- I did mention that I would expect a procedure to be in place for this type of problem.
- They did say, well what if someone more senior was not available?

2) You are a Digital Forensic Technician, and one of your colleagues, does not book his used kit bag back in to storage properly, and leaves it out - What should you do?

A) Inform a senior member of staff, about the breach of policy. All bags should be booked out and booked in appropriately - with a log.

- I did say, that if it were to happen in front of me, and it were to appear to be a momentary lapse in concentration - that I would remind the individual of the policy.

- For both questions, I made reference to organisational policies, and that I would expect for there to be such policies for dealing with these scenarios.

Now I am a graduate of multiple degree's in Computer Forensics, the interview environment was nerve-racking. This is obviously where I 'slipped up'.

Please can someone offer me some advice on what the proper procedure should be for these scenarios? I'd like to learn from my mistakes and hopefully land a rewarding role!

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 2:42 am
MDCR
 MDCR
(@mdcr)
Posts: 376
Reputable Member
 

IMO the questions are a waste of time.

In any other organisation, these are things that you can learn on the job. The way i see it is that they ask these things just shows that they want someone who have worked in the field and they are shutting out new people and don't want to bother training people, then they whine about "a skills shortage" like so many others.

A good employer would ask you questions and/or give a test that show that you can do the actual job. The rest is just policy and administration.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 11:04 am
(@forensicitderby)
Posts: 18
Active Member
Topic starter
 

Several people I know have said the very same!

But I suppose however disappointing it may seem to be knocked back - these roles are popular with applicants and lines need to be drawn.

Are my answers along the correct lines?

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 11:54 am
Vesalius
(@vesalius)
Posts: 66
Estimable Member
 

My question is do you need a university degree to work in that place or any other place generally ?

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 1:04 pm
(@jerryw)
Posts: 56
Trusted Member
 

I think you need to understand the scoring method used in most interviews, particularly in the public sector. While you get points for knowing the right answer, you get more for showing that you can demonstrate you have applied that knowledge. Everything is based around the points scoring, only occasionally can there be a bit of discretion, if the scores are close.

I was always advised to answer the question and give an example. In the second scenario the interviewer is not desperate to know your knowledge of kit bag logistics, more about how you would set about challenging inappropriate behaviour.

If you look around there are only really about half a dozen different questions types, they are just adapted to fit that organisation.

It's a good idea to go in to the interview with several examples to fit those question types and try to make the question match your example. Politicians do it all the time.

Hope that helps

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 1:44 pm
(@forensicitderby)
Posts: 18
Active Member
Topic starter
 

I did wonder if the whole point scoring thing had something to do with the outcome.

It was my first assessment day interview.

So it looks like I need to think up some examples for next time then?

Also there was a question which included the terms THECUS and BEAST.

From my own knowledge I know THECUS to be a storage device company. But BEAST is apprently some sort of Remote Desktop connection?

- has anyone heard of the term BEAST being mentioned in digital forensics?

Q A digital forensic examiner, has been having trouble accessing data from the THECUS using his BEAST, what would you do?

A) Check network connectivity, check file permissions, check access controls etc.

Many thanks for your replies guys - much appreciated.

In response to poster regarding having a degree - no I do not think it is essential, if you already have the right experience. In my case I was new to digital forensics - but had an IT background.

 
Posted : 16/04/2017 6:46 pm
minime2k9
(@minime2k9)
Posts: 481
Honorable Member
 

I think these questions are probably to do with a quality, not an knowledge based answer, although they seem a little off as I see it.

If your applying for a public sector job, they usually split the requirements into 2 areas, qualities and skills (although may be named differently).
Qualities are things like teamwork, problem solving, integrity etc and questions around these often want you to give detailed answers into that area. Often you will be told something to that effect when given the question. Usually this question relates to your ability to solve problems. Not all will do that though.

As Jerry said, these are then graded on a strict scale, ours is 1 - 5 with 1 being an absolute fail and 5 being almost unobtainable. To pass you need 3 and 4's in all questions really.

My advice would be to study the job description quite heavily, it will usually provide a lot of clues. Also the supporting documents which talk about the qualities and what they expect would be useful.

The questions which mention specific systems are particularly bad as, unless the systems are a requirement of the job, the could use generic terms such as accessing remote storage rather than a brand.

Hope this helps.

 
Posted : 17/04/2017 3:19 pm
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